Turkish Cypriot police arrest 74 over ‘fake prescriptions’

Turkish Cypriot police said that a total of 74 people have been arrested so far during investigations into the “fake prescription scandal”.

The scandal concerns the alleged writing of fraudulent prescriptions by doctors and pharmacists, with the first arrests having been made in September.

Speaking on Thursday night, police said that of the 74 arrests made, 17 were doctors, 48 pharmacists, three other employees at pharmacies, and the remaining six were members of the public.

In addition to arrests, police have found bin bags full of drugs with the barcodes scrubbed off their packaging in various places around the north.

During the autumn, images of doctors and pharmacists being led into courthouses in handcuffs became an almost daily occurrence, and while the rate of arrests being made has slowed since then, the police seemed to suggest more will be made.

They said their investigation into the matter is ongoing, which flies in the face of comments made by ‘labour minister’ Sadik Gardiyanoglu back in October, when he said the investigation would be completed “within 10 days”.

A third of the total arrests regarding the matter have been made in the two months since Gardiyanoglu made that comment.

The most high-profile arrest was of former ‘prime minister’ Sibel Siber. She was released on bail in October.